PESHAWAR, Sept 8: Speakers at a function held in connection with the International Literacy Day on Sunday underlined the need for giving top priority to education to put the country on the path of peace and prosperity.

The function was held at the government primary school for boys in Chughalpura here to mark the literacy day. District development advisory committee chairman Ishtiaq Urmer, officials of Elementary and Secondary Education (E&SE) Department and representatives of NGOs attended the function.

The DDAC chief said that for the current year the provincial government had set a target of 1.8 million children for enrolment in schools and efforts would be made to achieve it.

He urged the teachers to perform their duties with honesty, saying that the government would soon implement a policy of accountability of teachers on the basis of their performance.

He said that a drive for enrolment of out of school children would start from Sept 10 and appealed to the parents and teachers to make the campaign a success.

Mr Urmer said that poverty could be alleviated from the society through education. He said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government was committed to introducing the curriculum in government schools which had been taught in top English medium schools.

Additional secretary E&SE Qaisar Alam said that education was the right of every child and guaranteed in the constitution. He said that literacy rate, especially among girls, was very low in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and everyone had to play role to bring the out-of-school children to the educational institutions.

He said that a province-wide enrolment drive would be started in Peshawar on Tuesday. He said that establishment of an independent monitoring unit was also on the cards to properly regulate affairs of the schools.

Chief planning officer of the E&SE department, Rafiq Khattak, said that bio-metric system had been introduced in the education department and even secretary, additional secretary and other high-ups were required to pass through this electronic system of attendance in their offices.

“This (attendance system) would soon be introduced in schools to put an end to furloughs,” he said and added that teachers showing good performance would be rewarded.

Earlier, students of various schools presented tableaus, sung national songs and delivered speeches to highlight the importance of education. A walk was also held at the end of the function.